Printing-plate.



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PRINTING PLATE. APPLICATION FILED .TUNE 20, 1907. RENEWED APR. 20,199.

939,739. Patented N0v.9,19o9.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

CHARLES OWENS, E cHA'r'rANooeA, TENNESSEE, AsSIGNOR To NON'IAGUE MAILING MACHINERY co., A CORPORATION OE TENNESSEE.

PRINTING-PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1909.

Application led J'une 20, 1907, Serial No. 379,959. Renewed April 20, 1909. Serial No. 491,195.

To all whom it mag/'concern' Be it known that I, CHARLES OWENS, citizen of the United States, residing at Chattanooga, Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Plates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to printing plates such as used, for instance, in addressin machines where the addresses are carrie upon separate plates which'are fed in succession to the printing point for making the impression on the article to be addressed.

The printing plates are preferably formed of metal and are provided with means whereby the'type or impression surface is protected from damage and I` have also provided means'whereby the 4printing plate may be used in a card index system by inserting V a slip of paper bearing the same address as that contained on the typesurface, said slip of paper being placed on the reverse side of the printing plate from the type surface where it is held by the metal flanges or ribs thereupon.

The invention consists in the features and combinationl and arrangement of arts hereinafter described and particular y pointed out in the claims@ In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a 'face view of a printing plate made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a view of the reverse side of the printing plate from that shown in Fig.|1, this view illustrating the adaptation of the printing plate for a card index system. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the printing plate and, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view.

The printing' plate is preferably formed of metal having a raised central portion l with depressed front and rear edge portions 2, which edge portions are bent over and back upon themselves to form the flanges 3 on the reverse side of the printing plate. These flanges are again bent upon themselves as at 4 so that rounded edges of the metal -are present along both the edges of the plate and also along the edges of the flanges on the reverse side. The type surface which is formed by raising the letters or characters from the surface ofthe metal is indicated at 6, this constituting any suitable address or other matter which it is. desirable to print.

In order to strengthen the printing plate face from ,undue and at the same time protect the type surwear or damage by coming in contact with adjacent plates I provide ribs 7 struck up from the metal of the plate and extending transversely of the same near the end edges. These ribsl present curved upper surfaces 'and at their ends they merge into the depressed edges or margins of the printing plate, these merging portions presenting curved ribs or bearingedges which merge into the depressed surfaces without leaving any abrupt shoulders at these points so that no obstruction would be formed yto the free feeding forward of the printing plates. It will also be noticed that the depressed margins and the turned overvtianges of the printing plate strengthens the same from end to end.

In order to use the printing plate in a card index system by which these plates maybe filed away I utilize the turned over flanges for receiving thereunder a 'slip of paper or card bearing the same address as that which appears on the metallic type surface which 1s raised from the plate and in order to hold this slip of paper or card 1n place Vit is simply necessary to close the ends of the vcrevices or spaces lying between the flanges and the body of the plate, as indicated at 8, by simply making a nick or forcing outwardly the metal of the flanges. In other words the metal is simply indented at the bead or thickened portion under the edge of which the edge of the paper lies, so that this indented-portion of the metal will grip and hold the paper sheet. This may be done at the same time that the corrugation is formed transversely of the plate, these nicks or depressions forming in effect continuations of the corrugations.

It will be observed that by raising the letters or characters from the surface of the metal it will not be necessary in all cases to use the paper slip for the card index, as of course the impression will appear 0n the reverse side of the plate from which the letters are raised, as well as upon the printinfr side.

I claim as my invention.

1. A printing plate consisting of sheet metal having means thereon for making the impression, the sheet metal being turned downwardly along its margin and thence outwardly forming a marginal iange depressed below t-he impression surface and in n line with the space beneath said surface, substantially as described.

2. A printing plate having means thereon to make the impression and having anges upon the reverse side turned upon'themselves in Contact. and closed, and a card index or slip carried -by the said closed `ianges on the said reverse side, `substantially as described.

3. A printing plate havin means thereon to make the lmpression an having corrugations extending transversely of the plate metal having its marginal portion bent downwardly and thence outwardly below the plane of the main part of the plate, theA said depressed marginal portion being rolled on the under side of the plate,I substantially as described.'

5. '2A printing plate having means thereon for riaking the lnfipressions4 and having its margins depressed and extending outwardly, forming a marginal Hange below the impression surface, said marginal flange being `thickened in respect to the body of the plate,

substantially as described.

in testimony whereof, I alix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES OWENS. Witnesses: l

L. C. SHEPHERD,

A. W. MELLEN. 

